Registering a complaint

I would like to contest the notion that this is the way that any period in anyone's life should look. For the past, oh, 7-8 months, maybe longer, I have spent approximately 1-2 days per week bolstering myself from a collapse. So, about 1-2 days per week for the past 7-8 months I become so discouraged and disempowered that I either sit at my desk and cry or go into the stairwell near my office to sit on a step and convince myself that it's not a good idea to walk away without this God forsaken degree under my belt. I know that, if I were to have walked away, at any of these points, I would have always thought that I was very close and shouldn't have walked away. The problem is that, at any of these points, had I known how far away I actually was, I may have made a different decision. I am not almost finished. I just have a carrot stuck out on a stick in front of my face.

So, the reason for launching into this thesis/theorem is that, when I sort of point this out to other academics I get some version of the following: "That's just how it is. I remember when I was finishing my thesis, my boss took a 1-year sabbatical and I just had to sit and wait for him to come back." or, "That's how it is. My boss gave me and my coworker the same project and then, when she complained that I was about to publish the same work that she had done, he told me to drop it and do something else, when I was ready to publish and she was just getting started." or, "That's how it is. My finger tips turned blue and I couldn't stop shaking for the last three months of my PhD."

Here's my assertion: This is not okay. People should not have their spirits broken/dreams trampled/lives dismantled in order to prove their desire to be an academic. This rite of passage is absurd, whether it happens to everyone or not. What if I were to die tomorrow? I would have nothing to show for all this hard work and my achievements would get me nothing at the pearly gates. I have improved no one's life, as far as I can tell. I have saved no babies, I have soothed no wounds, I have done squat but knock myself out for someone who has placed me firmly at the bottom of his priority list. So, what? Nothing. No one cares. I can't even think of a conclusion for my rant. Life's not fair. Suck it up. Fish or cut bait. If I don't like it, I can leave, that sort of thing. It's the best I can come up with. Hopefully I'm wrong about that pearly gates business and there is someone around me somewhere who has benefitted from my sunny disposition. Do you know what else I've noticed, in terms of my contribution to the planet? I park badly. I'm one of the people who doesn't seem able to position her car between a pair of white lines. I look around myself in the parking deck and everyone seems to be better at this than I am. I think I may also be a somewhat distracted driver. Great. I'm part of the problem. That's not what I wanted for my life.